Schumacher poised to make history

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER may be tantalisingly close to a historic sixth drivers' crown but a nightmare scenario will dominate the thoughts of his Ferrari bosses before the title decider.

The German needs just one point from the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday week to clinch a sixth championship success even if McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen wins the race at Suzuka.

But with the celebrations of his crucial victory in yesterday's United States Grand Prix in full swing, the memory of Nigel Mansell's bitter experience when seemingly set for title glory in 1986 was already looming large in the mind of technical director Ross Brawn.

The Briton went into final race in Adelaide with a six-point lead over Alain Prost but a rear tyre on his Williams exploded allowing his French rival to snatch the trophy. Mansell had to wait another six years before he was finally crowned champion.

"We've all got memories we all remember Mansell," said Manchester-born Brawn. "Needing one point is sometimes tougher than worrying how to win it.

"It would be a tragedy if we got that close and didn't win it. It's going to be a very hard two weeks between here and Suzuka. We've got the Constructors' to try and win so we need to take our normal approach. To try and do it any differently would be a mistake.

"You don't take chancey overtaking decisions in a race if you know you've just got to score points but we've got to go out and try and win the race in our normal way because to change our approach would perhaps give us more problems than just focusing on the race as normal."

Ferrari's remarkable reliability record will surely last for one more race while Schumacher, who will be busily testing this week, can be relied upon to do the rest on a track where he has won for the past three years.

And when he does finally beat the record of five titles he shares with Juan Manuel Fangio, it could endure for longer than the Argentinian's, which lasted 45 years before Schumacher equalled it last season. Indeed, it may never be beaten.

Brawn insists comparisons with the likes of Fangio and three-time champion Ayrton Senna are meaningless but as to where he ranks among the current generation of drivers there are no doubts.

"Michael's certainly the best of his era by a long way," he said after seeing Schumacher register his 70th career win at Indianapolis.

"I don't know how you'd compare him with the other guys. F1 was so different then. How can you say he was better or worse? Even in Ayrton's time, Formula One was different. But he's got to be up there among the few. I don't think I'll see his like again.

"It's hard to imagine that after what he's achieved. Michael was really choked after the race. The guy's been here a long time and he's won a lot of races and he still gets emotional when he wins it's a wonderful thing. It was a great race, Michael showed his class."

Schumacher's chances were being written off a few weeks ago but he followed up his victory in Italy with a sixth win of the season at Indianapolis while Williams rival Juan Pablo Montoya faltered just when it mattered and the pressure was on.

Montoya's drive-through penalty for hitting Rubens Barrichello's Ferrari into the gravel left Raikkonen as the only challenger in an engrossing battle which Brawn believes will make the success taste even sweeter.

"It's not won yet, so we're not counting it but this one would be very special," added Brawn. "You can never think a championship is average. So it would be special to win it in what are much more difficult circumstances with stronger competition."